Sherlock Holmes: The Next Generation
by dansesinfernale
Summary: Bryony Holmes: Ring of Aquamarine    Bryony Holmes is the daughter of Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler, although she doesnt know it. When fates bring them together, however, Bryony and Sherlock find themselves in a twisted plot full of danger and death...
1. Chapter 1

_Prologue_: 13 years before.

"So..What is her name?" The busy matron asked the young woman lying on the bed, sweating slightly after her child birth exertions. It was no doubt the the young lady in question was stunningly beautiful, and was every man's dream.

After a few moments thought, the young woman answered:" Bryony Gwendolyn..."

When the young lady didn't finish her sentence, the kindly matron then asked: " Who is her father, dearie?"

Hesitating ever so slightly, the young lady laughed slightly. " I suppose it cannot be a secret forever. I may as well make clean breast of it to someone. Her father is the famous detective Sherlock Holmes."

The matron gave a little gasp. " So... She is Bryony Gwendolyn Holmes, am I right?"

" No, she will retain my surname. She is Bryony Gwendolyn Adler until the day her father claims her as his daughter. I wish her not to know who her father is until the time is right, if you understand, matron."

" Indeed.. Well, it is your choice, dearie."

" It damn well is." The young lady on the bed said suddenly, quite vehemently.

" Calm down. You are not fully recovered yet. You will need to rest here for at least three nights." The matron said, slightly alarmed at such a sudden outburst. She soothed her patient.

" Thank you matron. Perhaps you would like to retire to your rooms as well? It's been a long night for both of us."

" If you will be alright, I see no reason why I should keep you from your rest."

" I will be perfectly fine, matron. Goodnight."

And as the matron left the room taking a last glimpse of her patient, it was the last sight of her that she would ever have.

" Goodbye, my darling Bryony. May the gods be with you, and I pray that you may be as smart as your father, and as charming as me. Farewell, and may we meet again in a more favourable time." Kissing the sleeping child, the young woman climbed out of the window, making sure to be as silent as a cat.

The next morning, when the matron arrived to check on her patient, she discovered her gone, and with two letters on the bed. One was addressed to none other than the elusive Sherlock Holmes himself, and the other to herself. Not being a sneaky woman, she opened the letter addressed to herself first. It ran:

Dear Matron,

Thank you so much for the help you have given me as a confidante, midwife and helper. Now, i wish to request you services just one more time.

One: My child Bryony is to be raised in your orphanage, with absolutely no clue as to who her parents are.

Two: The letter addressed to Mr Sherlock Holmes is to be given to Bryony when the time is right.

Three: Under the pillow of mine is a locket. It is to be given to Bryony, and she must never take it off. EVER. Her father will recognize her by it.

Once again, thank you in advance for these services. Under my pillow, you will also find 50 shillings, my offering to you.

Sincerely yours,

Irene Adler.

After reading the letter, the matron reached out for the locket and put it around the sleeping child's neck.

" Bryony Gwendolyn Adler, welcome to this world. May you be blessed, sweet child." The matron said.

And that was how Bryony came into existence.


	2. Chapter 2

Greetings to all! Hi, I'm faeryenchanter and, as you can clearly see, I'm here, writing fan fiction. :D thanks to liine95 for reviewing! [even though it was in Spanish] If anyone else reviews/favourites/puts me on alert then I'll probably die of happiness :P Thanks to all of you! Oh yeah, any kind of reviews are welcome here, flames or whatever. THANKS!

Chapter 1: The Birthday Present.

It was a dull, foggy day in London, very typical weather for the city in that time of season. Autumn had truly struck, with all the falling leaves in different colours, orange, yellow, brown and red. But behind every picturesque scene is a dark twisted lane full of crooks.

"Hey, Bryony!" A redheaded boy called out, striding purposefully towards a girl sitting on a tree. It was then clear, the girl had either not heard him, or was purposely ignoring him.

" Bryony!" he tried, one more time.

" Hmm?" she said, instantly on the alert. Her ebony brown hair swirled around her slightly as the wind blew it.

"Still looking for your parents, huh?" the redheaded boy called out. The girl smiled slightly and nodded her head. But in her heart, she knew that it was a useless search. Her parents had left her here for thirteen years, how was she sure that they would suddenly turn up, out of the blue?

"Bryony Adler!" a shrill voice shrieked from the dismal building that was not very far from the tree.

The brown haired girl flicked her head towards the noise, her unique green eyes, flecked with gold, searched for the source of the noise. It then appeared in the form of an old, rheumatic lady, carrying a heavy iron spoon.

Quick as a flash, Bryony slid down the tree and pretended to be absorbed in a book that was lying at the foot of the tree.

"Miss Bryony Adler, would you care to explain why you were UP THAT TREE AGAIN?" the old lady asked, her voice rising into a scream that was in a whole scale itself.

" Me, Mrs Potts? Up that tree? Then how on earth would I have gotten down so fast? It's definitely impossible." Bryony said, turning on the charm against this old woman. Her green eyes became innocent, like a baby kitten, and her manner was infinitely demure.

Mrs Potts struggled as her brain tried to process then sophisticated language that Bryony was using. Finally, she gave up trying, and parted them with a shriek :" You may not have been up that tree this time, young lady, but if you have been, or you do it again next time, I'll make sure that you are whipped within an inch of your life, girl! Oh yes, WHIPPED!"

Bryony rolled her eyes at her redheaded friend as the old lady retreated. They knew that Bryony would never get caught. Finally, only after the old lady entered the building did they dare to talk.

" Where's Catherine?" Bryony asked.

" Still washing up for the cook, and hating every second of it." Her friend replied.

" You did get away from Miss Stoner fast, today, Jason. Weren't you supposed to be polishing her 'jewels'?" Bryony winked at Jason.

" Hmm... You're a fine one to talk. Who's the one supposed to be cleaning up the toilet today?" Jason winked back at Bryony.

Both of them laughed.

Then they were silent.

Bryony studied her home, the orphanage. It was worn out, and leaked very badly on rainy days. The windows were nearly torn off, and were hanging on their hinges.

It was a terrible place to grow up in.

Jason noticed her looking at the place miserably.

"We'll get out of here soon. Don't worry." Jason comforted his friend sympathetically.

" We will." Another voice said. It was Catherine, her raven black hair partially covering her violet eyes, giving her the air of a mysterious being.

" We have to." Bryony said.

Then they were all silent for a few moments again.

" Oh, by the way, Bryony, happy birthday." Catherine said.

" Yeah, we even planned a birthday surprise for you." Jason smiled broadly.

" Oh, thank you, Jason. Catherine. " Bryony said, with a faraway look.

" Maybe this will wake you up. Pack your things. We're escaping to London tonight." Catherine said.

And as she said those magical words, Bryony did perk up. And she gave a beautiful smile.

" Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Jason said.

End of Chapter One...

You know the drill, people! Please R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken me such a long time to write... Thanks to everyone who read my story or put me or the story either on favorite or alert. I LOVE YOU GUYS! THANKS!**

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><p>Chapter Two: The First Aquamarine.<p>

"If we take the route along Marylebone, we might take over them."

"No, I think probably the Charing Cross would be better."

"Charing Cross is a long way away, my dear Watson."

"Oh, be quiet." Watson said, smacking Holmes with his beige coloured top hat in a friendly way.

Then the carriage that they had been waiting for rumbled along.

"There it goes, Holmes. The game is afoot. Drive, cabbie! Hurry! Follow that carriage!"

And the chase began.

A few minutes before...

"You still remember how to hack a cab, right, Jason?" Catherine asked, slightly concerned as she watched her friend scan the area for a suitable conquest. There wasn't really much choice, as it was night time, and the carriages were few and far in-between. Sometimes, there wasn't any chance for them to jump on one anyway.

Then suddenly, there was that one perfect chance.

"Quick, anywhere! Just drive around London!" cried a group of five men. The tallest of them threw a wad of cash at the driver, and while the driver was counting it, it gave Bryony, Catherine and Jason just the right amount of time to sneak into the carriage.

The place that they sneaked into was slightly open-air. Catherine and Jason were just so glad to be out in the open, unconfined streets that they forgot to keep watch, but were instead admiring the night view rather openly. Bryony smiled slightly at her friends, and proceeded to keep on her guard. The carriage was travelling at an inhumanly fast speed, zooming over bumps and such, Bryony noted quickly, her green-gold eyes flashing in the darkness. The carriage they were on was very obviously boarded by thieves. She closed her eyes and tried to separate the noises from one another.

A bird in the night chirped.

A street lamp creaked gently in the light breeze.

Rowdy people shouted and screamed from a nearby pub. And then there was another sound, considerably closer. Bryony opened her eyes, immediately on the alert. They were being followed by another carriage. The horse hoofs were silent, barely making a sound on the cobblestones.

Then Catherine tapped Bryony on the shoulder, and then pointed to her own ear. A sign to listen.

Bryony strained to hear their through the velvet cover of the carriage. A harsh, corrugated voice reached her ears.

"Gentlemen, as we speak, that damned detective, Sherlock Holmes, is on our case. Where is the aquamarine?"

Sherlock Holmes.

The name rang through Bryony's mind. She certainly hadn't heard of it. Yet... some part of her recognized that name, strange as it was. She filed away the name for future thoughts.

Then it was back to concentrating on the men's conversation.

"Right here, sir." A timid voice said.

Jason had managed to cut some sort of hole in the fabric separating them, and the three of them peered through it eagerly. They saw a dark, tall man hold an object of peculiar beauty up to a candle.

It was a blue stone, not as flawless as a sapphire, but it held its own charm in a wave of broken rainbows on its surface.

"That's the aquamarine." Catherine breathed as quietly as possible.

The aquamarine sparkled with a certain milky, moonshine charm. Its history was clearly written in between the enchanting, glasslike stone. Death pervaded every corner of it. The aquamarine was fatal to anyone who possessed it. Much like its more famous counterpart, the cursed sapphire. But this aquamarine's tale was so deadly that it will never be told.

"Beautiful.." the leader of them said.

"Its history is death, but what we are going to unleash is pure hell itself." He continued smugly.

Bryony glanced over to her friends. It really was as if they had a telepathic link, staying in each other's company for 6 years.

_There is someone following this coach. _Bryony telepathed, punctuating her sentence with a jerk of her head in the direction of the followers.

_Sherlock Holmes?_ Catherine questioned, raising her eyebrows. Bryony nodded and moved in closer to whisper.

"Jason." She enunciated clearly and slowly, for her voice was very soft.

" You have to cut the horses on the carriage loose." She continued.

Catherine immediately shot Jason a slightly worried look, asking Jason if he still remembered how to climb on a carriage. Jason immediately winked, and he climbed the frame of the carriage, as soft as a cat.

"We need to send a message over there so that we don't crash into each other. What about those paper aeroplanes you make, Catherine?" Bryony suggested.

10 minutes later, and a paper aeroplane carrying a message flew neatly into the window of Holmes and Watson's carriage. It got itself stuck into Holmes's unruly hair, for some reason.

He unfolded it. It read:

_Dear Mr Sherlock Holmes,_

_It may interest you that there are likeminded people like yourself currently on board the carriage you are trailing. Keep a safe distance from the carriage. The criminals shall fall into your hands soon enough._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Bryony Adler, Catherine Lewis and Jason Blakestone._

" Adler? " Watson looked at his friend. Sherlock seemed to have gone off into a sort of daze.

"Plenty of time for reminiscence later, old friend. Focus on the case."

Holmes nodded. He told the driver to stop, and they waited.

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><p><strong>CLIFFHANGERRRR! I hope you liked that! Please R&amp;R!<strong>

**Faeryenchanter**.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Greetings everyone! I'm back! Hope you enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to review! Thanks to all those people who reviewed and favorited, you guys are the best ever. Love you!

Chapter Three: Danger.

As Jason crouched over the perilous place between the driver and the road, he felt a sense of fear enveloping him, stifling his thoughts, but he quickly tried to quench it. Lives depended on him, he told himself firmly. If only he'd had time to practice...

Forcing himself to ignore the rough jolts of the carriage, he slid out his sharpest pocketknife and began to saw at the first horse's harness. Soon, it was cut loose, making the carriage lopsided, but still moving, albeit slower than before. The recently liberated horse ran off quickly. The driver cried out in shock and amazement. Jason swung himself over to saw at the other horse's restraints, for he knew that he would be caught very soon if he didn't hurry.

And in a few short minutes, the carriage was freefalling.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the carriage...

Catherine gently lifted the aquamarine out of the unsuspecting man's pocket. He was deep in conversation with the other men.

_Just a few inches more..._she thought, slowly drawing the aquamarine out, her fingers clenched tightly around her treasure. At the exact moment it was safely out, the carriage lurched forwards frighteningly. It crashed with a resounding of broken glass.

Bryony and Catherine sat up in the wreckage, totally disorientated. Bryony was the first to recover. She saw Jason's head pop out from a mound of debris. She ran over. He was alright, despite a few cuts here and there. Police came running out of nowhere, and detaining anyone who ventured their heads out of the wreckage.

Bryony helped Jason out of the wreckage, and then they went over to help Catherine get up. Everything was in chaos. The surprisingly large amount of police and the dark night did not help either.

Bryony watched carefully for any suspicious signs, and for the elusive Mr Holmes the men were talking about. Strangely enough, the police did not care about a trio of poorly dressed children who were loitering about

Then something suspicious truly happened. The dark man emerged from one corner of the debris, seemingly unnoticed, but Bryony caught sight of him. He got up slowly, but in one fluid motion, Bryony gave a running leap and landed on the man's back. The collision knocked them both down, and left them dazed. However, he was the first to recover. Grabbing Bryony by the hair, he prepared to throw her, but he was stopped, none other by- Sherlock Holmes himself.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hello. *gulps* how long has it been already? Hehe.. let's just say that this was a really long time... Sorry guys.. Heck, I don't even know who the hell reads this anymore. But if you do read this, and you like it, I am forevermore grateful for your patience. And I love you all. So here it is. Chapter five of The Ring of Aquamarine.

Chapter Five: Found.

"That's enough crime done today for you, Mr Johnson." Sherlock Holmes said in a mild tone, gripping the man's shirt with a surprisingly firm grip. Thrace merely snarled in response, vainly struggling free from the detective's strong grasp. "Let me go, I say! I'll string that girl up by her feet and tear her a dozen ways to Sunday, see if I don't, you little witch!" Thrace screamed, his expression bordering on the insane.

"Interesting preposition, if I might say so, Mr Johnson, but it will be slightly hard do do that while you are behind bars, permanently. Or perhaps the judge might be kind to you, and sentence you to a quick, painless death? As I'm sure you have disposed of many enemies in the same way..?" Holmes mocked, a slight quirk to his lips in amusement.

Bryony noticed, however, that Thrace still slapped his hand against his pocket, hoping that the aquamarine was still salvageable. The policemen on the scene had to literally drag the screaming, wild man away, and lock him firmly up in "The Black Maria", or so the police car was called.

"That one's a nutcase, alright." Lestrade said, shaking his head regretfully at the mental state of London in those days.

A photographer popped up. "One for the papers, gentlemen?" he asked, and quickly tried to grab a shot, hopefully able to capture the famous Sherlock Holmes, but failing once again.

Just then, a thin, wiry man walked up, and kneeled down next to her. Purely out of instinct, she jerked back quickly.

"It's alright, I'm a doctor. Are you hurt?" he asked, with an expression of kindness on his face. Bryony felt as if she had lost all her motor functions, and was only able to nod quietly as she stared out of her green eyes.

A hand was held out to her. It was a strong, sunburnt hand, worn from ages of experiments and countless injuries, with calluses both formed from violin playing and other things. It was Sherlock Holmes's hand.

"Thank you." she managed to say, looking into Holmes's deep brown eyes, which saw everything. But as their gazes connected, a spark of electricity seemed to shock both of them, breaking the contact.

"Bryony, are you alright?" Catherine asked, limping over to her friend, as her leg had been slightly twisted in the crash.

"I'm fine. Is your leg alright, though?" Bryony asked, concerned. It must have been extremely painful, for Catherine never complained of pain at all.

Jason rushed up to both of them, his red hair glowing like a beacon. "Are you hurt? Any of you?" both girls shook their heads. "If.. only I'd known, I..I'd have shot him!" Jason said dramatically, reaching his had into his pocket, but only to be quelled by Catherine with a stern glance. That revolver in Jason's pocket was their only weapon now, and should be kept a secret, especially when there were police around. It was quite suspicious for a 13 year old to be carrying firearms.

Bryony twisted around from her friends to look at Sherlock. He seemed to be staring at them with.. envy?

She in turn looked thoughtfully at him, but then she decided not to stare. "Let's go. Quickly." she said to both Jason and Catherine in a whisper.

So they started to retreat, slowly into the darkness, as so not to attract any attention.

But what could escape Sherlock Holmes?

"Which one of you is Miss Adler, the brunette, isn't it?" Holmes asked, in his unmistakable tones. Bryony stopped in her tracks and turned around, to see the slightly amused face of Holmes and the doctor from earlier on.

Bryony gave a small, demure smile.

"At your service, Mr Holmes." was her only acknowledgment, playing coy, just like her mother.

"How exactly like Irene." Holmes complimented, with a sad smile. "Just like her."

A/N: Well, that's it for now... :) Reviews and whatnot are always, always, ALWAYS loved and cherished. So please? Much hugs.


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